Could anaesthesia be a key factor for the good outcome of bone ablation procedures? A retrospective analysis of a musculoskeletal interventional centre.

To choose the best anaesthetic approach through the retrospective review of different bone ablation procedures. We retrospectively evaluated 118 ablation procedures carried out in our institute over the last 30 months. Three different anaesthetic approaches were used: general anaesthesia, i.v. sedation/analgesia and loco-regional anaesthesia (brachial plexus block, spinal anaesthesia). The outcomes were evaluated based on three parameters: technical success, patient comfort (Scale 1–5) and operator comfort (Scale 1–5). The 118 interventional procedures were carried out on 62 benign and 56 malignant bone lesions. The overall procedural success rate was 100%. Three cases were treated under general anaesthesia: patient comfort was 5/5 in all cases; operator comfort was 5/5 in one case, and 4/5 in two cases. Twenty-one patients underwent sedation/analgesia: in three patients with benign bone lesions, patient comfort was 1/5 and operator comfort 3/5; in two patients with malignant bone lesions, patient comfort was 3/5 and operator comfort 4/5. Ninety-four patients underwent loco-regional anaesthesia: patient and operator comfort was 5/5 in all cases. Based on our experience, loco-regional anaesthesia is probably the best anaesthetic approach during bone ablation procedures. Benign bone lesions ablation are the more painful procedures. This is the first paper that systematically investigates about the best anaesthesiological support for IR procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]